Don't Be Cruel

Rating:

Words & Music: Otis Blackwell/ Elvis Presley

You know I can be found,sitting home all alone,If you can't come around,at least please telephone.Don't be cruel to a heart that's true.

Baby, if I made you madfor something I might have said,Please, let's forget the past,the future looks bright ahead,Don't be cruel to a heart that's true.I don't want no other love,Baby it's just you I'm thinking of.

Don't stop thinking of me,don't make me feel this way,Come on over here and love me,you know what I want you to say.Don't be cruel to a heart that's true.Why should we be apart?I really love you baby, cross my heart.

Let's walk up to the preacherand let us say I do,Then you'll know you'll have me,and I'll know that I'll have you,Don't be cruel to a heart that's true.I don't want no other love,Baby it's just you I'm thinking of.

Don't be cruel to a heart that's true.Don't be cruel to a heart that's true.I don't want no other love,Baby it's just you I'm thinking of.

Reactions

This song is a true masterpiece and Elvis' July 2, 1956 smash #1 hit studio recording of it is easily the best version of this classic gem. This is easily one of the very best songs that's ever been written. I rate this iconic song and Elvis' hit studio recording of it 5 Stars.

What can you say, 5 stars is not enough, 10 stars may not be enough. This is what rock music is meant to be. Slick production that just slides across the ears, and is loaded with energy, fun, humor, sex and life.

And then to think that Elvis prefered Jackie Wilson's version. Scotty playes the intro and the outro; nothing more. And Elvis slaps the behind of his guitar again. Jerry Lee Lewis thought this to be Elvis' best song. I don't, but it's a classic.

From what I understand, The million or so people who baught the 45 "Hound Dog", didn't realize Don't be Cruel" was on the flipside, and when that song soared up the charts, the same million people went out and bought the same 45 again! ...That Colonel!!!!

Talk about value for money! Don't Be Cruel (which he heard for the first time in the studio and recorded in 28 takes) AND Hound Dog on the same single?!! My favourite version is the one he played on his third Ed Sullivan show appearance, where he enunciates "telly-phone" after messing around with the idea at Sun Studio a month earlier. In the fifties, as far as recorded evidence goes, he seemed to put so much effort into every performance (just look at the length -- and strength -- of Love Me and Love Me Tender on his 2nd Sullivan show appearance and compare it to the 70's). Strange that Elvis didn't pronounce "telephone" as "telly-phone" in the seventies. Maybe he just didn't care. But after watching his '68 sit-down shows, one might reasonably assume that, having already revisited his past to great effect (in 1968), he'd been there and done that. It was time to move on and do something different, and for his boldness in totally changing his style and his image, I admire him.

Pure pop perfection . . . the original version, that is. The 1968 version is OK, but almost a different song, presentation-wise. The 1970s versions were occasionally palatable, but mostly speeded up and watered down, bearing no resemblance to the original treatment. A sad way to treat a pop classic.

Well, what to add! Really the top of RnR. Again there is the drive and emerging forceful style that made Elvis the king of music. The development of this song throughout the years is interesting though. Fitting in related to age, time and musical trends. Superb.

ONe of the best songs of all time. One can never get tired of it. The 1956 studio version is the classic version, with the Sullivans a close second. The later live versions were usually done as part of a medley which was 'cruel' to this song. Greatest B side in the history of recorded music!

Could be his best one. I think it was one of the songs from the fifties that Elvis didn´t get fed up with. He did a lot of good versions. I think the version on the Ed Sullivan Show (1956) is my favourite, but there´s also an awesome version on Comeback Special.